Stranger
by PalaeoPanthalassa
Summary: -Based on the CARTOON- After her little brother Shade was blown off course during the storm, Dawn went back to look for him. Lost, she is found by someone else instead.
1. Lost

Author´s Note: So how many times has it been that I've tried to write a silverwing fanfic now? I don't even know anymore, I think this is like the fourth or fifth attempt. Well, let's try one more time. On with the show!

Also, if you've read Wirewing and notice similarities (e.g. OCs Nettle and Audacia, as well as some plot elements) between this and my other story, know that this story was meant to be a rewrite of it, but it came out so drastically different that I decided to post it as a different story.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**Lost**

The air was filled with the sound of churning wings as the colony flew southwards towards Hibernaculum.

It was a strange thought that only a few hours before Tree Haven had still stood tall, brimming with cheerful happy bats, but now it was nothing but a burnt husk to be forgotten and lost with time. Most of the colony were still in a state of shock, Dawn herself couldn't believe that they were already migrating. It was like some weird daymare in which she was neither fully awake nor completely asleep.

"What was Cassiel like?" Shade asked her unexpectedly. "You knew him before he went missing."

The acrid scent of smoke and burning was still seared into her nose, as was the sight of Tree Haven in her mind. Dawn look back at her younger brother irritably.

"I don't really think now is the time for questions like that," she replied, then she saw how downcast he looked and added: "Besides, I didn't know him that long. I met him before the last year's hibernation, then he vanished just a few weeks into the spring this year."

Ariel was flying just ahead of them, and Dawn knew that Cassiel was still a touchy subject with their mother and wasn't about to start talking to Shade about him when she was within earshot. Their mother had already been through enough for that day. Ariel had been in some sort of incident earlier that evening during the burning of Tree Haven, Dawn had not been around at the time as she'd been roosting higher up in the tree with the other second-years, but Shade had said she had hurt her wing. And it was worrying Dawn, though so far Ariel's flying didn't seem to be slowing.

"Do you think he would have been ashamed?" Shade asked her even more quietly.

Dawn's heart nearly broke at his words. Her poor younger brother, only just starting his first migration and already he thought himself a failure.

"No, no, he would have understood," she reassured him, drifting back so that she was flying right beside him.

"Understood that I did something stupid."

"No, understood that you acted impulsively. It wasn't like you took wing with the plan to anger the owls, you didn't mean to do anything wrong," she smiled comfortingly. "Anyway, let's focus on more important things. How are you fairing?"

"I'm flying fine," he frowned. "Don't you start too! Mom's been trying to fatten me up for weeks now."

"Oh don't worry Shade, you're doing very well," Ariel said, slowing down to fly with them. "Dawn was much more anxious than you were when she made her first migration last year."

"I was not!" Dawn defended herself hastily, she narrowed her eyes warningly at her brother when he sniggered.

Ariel laughed merrily: "She made me carry her part of way. She was convinced she was just magically going to run out of energy and fall out of the sky."

"Really? My big tough sister? That's a laugh," Shade grinned at Dawn cheekily, irritating her. But it was good to see him smile after all the colony had been through that evening.

Still, Dawn was just contemplating making a immature remark about the correlation between tiny wingspans with tiny brains when two other bats swooped low overhead. Dawn catching sight of them recognised the individuals as two other second-yearers, Nettle and Audacia. Nettle smiled at her, but Audacia glanced uncertainly at Shade as if he might suddenly catch fire and spit poison.

Dawn sighed; there had been more than a few venomous looks sent her little brother's way that night, but it couldn't be helped after what had happened.

"Yeah, well, talking about big tough sisters," she said to Shade with finality. "This one has got to go now. Catch up with you later, and take care of mom!"

"I will!" Shade called after her as Dawn banked away, before losing sight of him behind others in the colony.

"You feeling homesick yet?" Nettle called as she swooped in to fly beside her.

"No, of course not," Dawn immediately lied. "It was a boring old place anyway, maybe they can find a better roost this time." This too was a lie. As far as Dawn could see, there was no way the colony would ever be able to find a nursery roost as good as Hibernaculum.

"Hmm, well I'm homesick," Nettle replied wistfully. "All those long warm summer nights, the fat tiger-moths, the slow stream down by the fragrant pine trees..."

"The colony will find a new roost next year, and it will be just as good," Dawn answered dismissively.

But the truth was, that the way she saw things, it was easier to lie to herself about how she had felt about the place – well hey, you couldn't miss something you didn't care for, right?

Dawn already missed Hibernaculum a lot.

...

Hours passed and the weather took a turn for the worse.

"This storm is going to blast my fur off!" Nettle shouted to be heard over the howling wind.

"Ah, shut up! You're doing fine!" Dawn shouted back irritably as the wind snapped at her wings. She could feel the strain in her wings, muscles threatening to give up on her. "What I'm worried about is my little brother, I don't know if he's got the wingspan to cope with this storm!"

"You wouldn't be able to help in this weather, just finding him would be a task enough, and you would be falling out of formation. Wait until we veer away from this coastline, then go back and check," Nettle told her. "I'm sure your mother has got it covered."

"My mother has got a hurt wing!"

"Well, do what you think is best then. But I still really don't think there would be much you could do in this weather. I'm worried about my own family too, you know."

Dawn briefly looked back over her shoulder, looking amongst the whirling mass of wings and tried to spot her brother or mother amongst them, but could see no trace. Nettle was probably right, if she flew off course now just to find them she'd be hindering other bats too.

So she didn't go looking. A decision she would later regret.

...

"Gone?! What do you mean, he's gone?" Dawn exclaimed in horror at Ariel's distraught face. "He's...he's not dead, is he?"

"He was snatched away by the wind, I don't know what happened to him," her mother cried. "One minute he was flying next to me, and the next he was gone! Mercury tried to save him, but it all happened so fast."

"Are we going to go back and look for him?"

"I've spoken to Frieda," Ariel shook her head sadly. "And her answer is only reasonable. We will slow our migration and delay for a few days, hopefully he'll catch up again once he's got his bearings. To do anything more would be to endanger the colony."

"But what if he's hurt? What if the storm grounded him?"

"Dawn, there is nothing we can do," Ariel shook her head. "We can only hope that he will catch up with us in time."

When the third night grew in strength and there was still no sign of Shade, Dawn made up her mind.

The colony had come in to roost under an old water tower on their journey, when owls had attacked unexpectedly. The colony had managed to escape by hiding under the material of a moving human vehicle transporting logs. In the chaos that followed as the bats tried to orientate themselves again and seek a new roost, Dawn broke away silently, and began to fly back the way they had came.

As far as she was concerned, she was going to find Shade before daybreak, and then she would bring him back to the colony, safe and well.

Only somehow, instead of playing the hero she found herself the victim within less than an hour.

Dawn quickly came to appreciate the fact that she was lost – or rather her fear reveled in it, the rest of her mind did not. The colony had headed off course when they had chosen to roost at the water tower, and in the panic to escape the owls, Dawn realized she didn't even know where that was now.

No sign of Shade, and with no idea where she was, Dawn flew close to despair.

Dawn looked up to the stars, seeking her way, they twinkled distant and cold. They should have been her helpful guides, but they weren't for one simple reason – she had no idea which direction to head. Sure, she knew how to head south, north, east or west but she had no idea where her current position was in relation to anywhere else. And she could see no landmarks that she recognized which she could use to orientate herself.

There was no question as to whether or not she might never find them again, Dawn refused to let herself dwell on such thoughts. Logically, or so she told herself, if both she and they were flying southwards then their paths were bound to cross at some point, and if not then she was bound to come across a landmark that she recognized and then finding her colony again would be easy! And by then...maybe Shade would have caught up with the others, and she could tell him all about how her stupid attempt to go back and rescue him had resulted in her becoming lost herself, and he would probably laugh but she wouldn't mind because she would be laughing too.

...

Luck was not on her side.

Several days had passed and Dawn had seen no other bats apart from herself. The only living things she had seen on her journey so far were roosting day birds, and once or twice the heart stopping sight of an owl in the far distance.

To make things worse the cold of winter arrived abruptly without warning. Snow began to fall and soon covered the ground. And the cold affected more than simply the temperature, it also affected the bug population. Though there was no competition for food without any other bats around, but there was also very little food now available to begin with..

Wind once welcomed for gliding was now dreaded for the biting cold it brought with it. Dawn made sure to stick well below the tree line, flying almost at ground level to shelter from the harsher winds.

The forest seemed almost lifeless, at night very little moved at all, and Dawn was alone on her journey, like a ghost she seemed to haunt the landscape, a flying streak of shadow over the white snow below.

Dawn was surprised when the dark waters of a lake stretched out below her in the otherwise white landscape between the trees. It was not a landmark she recognized, and it wasn't the river - the landmark she **was** currently looking for - but it drew her curiosity nonetheless, and she swooped over it a few times to take a drink from the cold water.  
><span>

Looking glumly at her reflection in the water below, Dawn was almost able to convince herself that she was not alone, that there was another bat flying beneath her. So when she heard the beating of wings she initially thought she was imagining it. It was only because she caught their reflection in the water that she spotted them:

Owls.

And they were chasing something.

Quickly she darted away from the lake and landed upon a thick branch of an overhanging tree, pressing herself into a small hollow and hoping that they wouldn't see her. Cautiously she peered out, looking down to see what exactly the birds were chasing.

They were chasing a bat, and after the event at the wood mill, this did not shock Dawn as much as it might have done normally.

It wasn't just any bat either, perhaps it was just a trick of the light, but he looked bigger than any bat she had ever seen before. But even so, there were three owls and they were all after him. It was only too clear to her that the owls would kill him if they caught him.

So far though he was doing a good job of evading capture, dodging amongst the tree tops, and even as she watched to her amazement he struck out at one of the owls and knocked them back. But there was something tired about his movements, she could see even from this distance that his wings were torn in places.

Abruptly the big bat dove towards the water, attempting to trick the owls into flying into the lake, he pulled up just in time to avoiding colliding with the water and flew on into the wood. Unfortunately, so did the owls.  
><span>

"Here! Up here!" she hissed to him, "Hide!"

The big stranger heard her, circling the tree once like a shadow he landed, and scuttled up to the hole in the tree she had found. He was even bigger up close, and Dawn found herself nearly shoved out of the hollow as she had to make room for him to hide. The stranger smelt of blood, and up close she could see an open gash upon his shoulder, his fur was missing in places as if it had been burnt off or pulled out, but she had little time to contemplate this, the owls were a higher priority.

The owls screeched as they flew on past below, and then they were gone, flying off into the horizon.

Dawn barely had a chance to breath a sigh of relief though before a great weight suddenly crushed down upon the back of her neck. For a moment she thought one the owls had doubled back and found her, but then she realized it was the stranger had pinned her like a bug!  
><span>

"You know, you smell strangely familiar, señorita."  
><span>


	2. Deal

**Chapter 2**

**Deal**

"That would be kind of hard, seeing as I don't think we've ever met!" Dawn ground back to him through grit teeth. If she hadn't known any better, she'd have sworn she was in the talons of an owl or eagle.

Dawn had never been in a situation like this before. For a moment she actually feared she was going to die. Maybe the rumors that she had heard when she was still a newborn were true, that all bats outside her colony were psychos.

_'Keep away from strangers, newborns, they __can very dangerous__,'_ or so the cautionary tale had went.

The closest she had ever gotten to seeing any other bats from outside her colony before was glimpsing a greenwing colony that had gotten lost the previous year, and had to ask the silverwing elders for directions. It wasn't like she had gotten to speak to any of them.

But now she was kind of glad she hadn't.

Abruptly there was a nearby screech, like that of an owl.

This distracted the stranger long enough for Dawn to wriggle free and fly out of the tree.

He flew after her.

Dawn immediately tried to lose him between the trees. Bringing her wings in close, she dove and used gravity to gain speed.

She then followed a technique she had used when she had still been a newborn playing hide-and-seek with the other youngsters in her colony. Dawn banked, then latching one wing onto a branch, she used her momentum to swing herself up against the trunk of a tree, pressing herself down and stilling to blend in with the bark.

It worked.

Well...it did initially, at least.

The stranger flew past her with ferocious speed, and was gone. But no sooner had she sighed a breath of relief than she heard approaching wing-beats once more. Realizing she was at risk of being caught out in the open, as the hiding technique she was using only worked one in one direction, she began to claw her way up the tree.

When she noticed that she could no longer hear any wing-beats, and fearing her own scrambling was might be heard, she froze to listen.

Silence greeted her.

This didn't reassure her much, but neither did being exposed on a tree trunk where she could easily be spotted by owls and enemies alike; so she continued moving up the tree trunk as quickly and as quietly as she could.

Heaving herself up onto the branch, she found it was already occupied.

Dawn gasped and stumbled back, nearly falling off the branch in the process.

The stranger towered over her, she had never seen anything like him before. Powerful set jaws and fangs more reminiscent of a beast rather than a bat, she would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't scared.

But Dawn had had enough. She was tired, cold and lost,and she was not about to be intimidated by some oversized psychopath who apparently had nothing better to do than bother her, even after she had helped him.

"Listen buddy, I don't know what your game is!" she told him. "But I swear, if you don't leave off, I will make such a racket that every owl within this forest will come crashing down on us!"

The big bat did nothing for a few seconds, looking at her strangely, then he began to laugh. Dawn scrambled further along the branch away from him, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I must apologize, I had no intention of scaring you," he replied, recomposing himself. Like the rest of him, his voice was nothing like she had ever encountered before, with an exotic accent and a strangely soothing tone, but Dawn could sense there was something predatory about him. "I mistook you for an enemy."

_What was that even supposed to mean?! _– by this point Dawn had already concluded that the stranger had to be insane.

"Now, where are my manners? I am Goth," he bowed his head to her. "And you?"

"Charmed," she replied sarcastically, ignoring the request for her name. "Now if you don't mind, I've really got to leave."

"I did not mean to frighten you," he said again. "I would _never _intentionally harm a young beautiful señorita like yourself."

She didn't trust him for a moment. He was trying to charm her, his tone completely different from how it had been when he had pinned her. And it might have worked, if it had been the way he had first introduced him himself. Dawn got the impression that he would have been quite handsome, if he hadn't looked like he had recently flown through a forest fire.

"Yeah, well, just make sure it doesn't happen again," she told him, eyeing the skyline for an escape route. "And we'll forget about it." _And hopefully never meet again,_ she thought fearfully.

"Of course, señorita," he folded his wings. "But perhaps you would not mind if I asked for directions?"

"Directions? Directions to where?" she asked, already readying herself to fly away. "Are you lost? Sorry, can't help. I'm not familiar with this region either, I'm just passing through."

"As you may have already guessed, I am not from around here," he raised one wing so that she could see a bronze metal band around his forearm that was thick as her neck. "When the humans banded me, they took me North, far away from my home. And now in the midst of winter, I must find a way back. You are traveling south, si?"

"Err..." Dawn looked over him, noting the fresh gash on his shoulder again. "So did the humans do that to you too?"

"What?" he sounded almost affronted, then he his shook his head and asked again. "May I travel with you? Just as far as your colony. It is too cold for me to be out here, you would not have to do much."

Normally she might have considered such a request, probably feel sympathy too. But this crazy guy had just crushed her into a tree and nearly broken her neck, and Dawn was feeling less than charitable towards him.

"No," she told him simply. "I don't think so."

And with that she lept from the branch, and flew away.

Of course he followed, she didn't expect any less, and to be honest it alarmed her, but she wasn't going to let him know that.

"But señorita, why so cold? All I want is to return to my colony, is that so much?" he called after her.

"Excuse me, but you_ attacked_ me! I'm not helping you," she replied back over her shoulder, she jolted when she saw how close he was.

"I mistook you for another," he replied, and it horrified her how easily he kept up with her, his wing-beats slow and lazy while she frantically made to keep ahead of him. "An enemy. With the owls so near, my mind was elsewhere."

She didn't reply to him, focusing on beating her wings faster in a poor attempt to outfly him. Despite his tattered wings, Goth easily kept up, actually going as far as to block her way several times.

Each time she would swerve and fly off in a different direction, but each time he would be there, waiting.

"Stop that!" she eventually growled. "Let me go! Find someone else to lead you."

"What will you do if you if you are found by an owl?" he flew level with her. "A little northern bat all on their own, without your colony? Not very safe, no?"

"Are you threatening me?" she squawked as he blocked her way for the fifth time.

"No. I am offering you a deal," he told her smoothly. "Let me travel with you, and return I will protect you. I've fought my share of these mangy birds."

"Is that why you're so beat up?" Dawn replied dryly.

"Admittedly I have been down on my luck recently," he replied a little irritably. "But owls have been the least of it. I hit a human power line."

That made sense in a way, but the gash on his shoulder was clearly not caused by that, Dawn knew that he had been in a fight recently.

"Why were they chasing you?" she asked.

"Because I kill owls," he grinned with such fierce relish that she almost believed him...it was just that it didn't make any sense. Bats couldn't kill owls.

"Oh, good for you," she answered skeptically, and it was obviously not the answer Goth had wanted because he immediately fell silent and fell back.

"You cannot get rid of me so easily," he told her a few moments later. "You are still traveling southwards, all I need to do is follow you."

There was something dangerous about his voice now, but Dawn was too weary to think much of it. She was by now too tired to argue.

"Fine, travel with me, it's not like I can stop you anyway," she told him reluctantly. "Just keep an eye out for owls and quit blocking my path."

"Of course, señorita, I wouldn't have it any other way."

...

They flew in silence for some time. Dawn was battling unease.

Just where was her colony? Was Shade still alive? Did they think she was dead too now – it wasn't like she had exactly explained what her plan had been when she had set out to anyone – she had thought she would only be gone a few hours.

Everything would be so much easier if she could just find Hibernaculum.

"So how far have you got to go to reach your colony?" she asked eventually, despite her unease it was admittedly nice not to be flying alone anymore.

"Very far away, in the south," he replied. "It will be a long journey, but one that will be worth it."

Dawn couldn't help but smile.

"Tell me about it, there is no place I'd rather see right now than my winter roost," she replied. "And then to sleep for a long time, until all this icy cold is gone."

"You know, I was not alone when I first found myself in this wilderness," he told her casually, he glanced behind them to check the skyline. "I had a companion with me...I wonder where he is now?"

"I suppose you want to go looking for him?" she asked wearily. Agreeing to let him travel with her was one thing, she wasn't interested in going on a search-and-rescue mission when she needed one herself.

"Actually, no," he replied and grinned viciously again. "We were not close, and technically, he abandoned me to my fate when the owls attacked."

"You were attacked by owls too?" Dawn thought this over for a moment, the owls had attacked her colony unprovoked after all. "What is the owls' Nocturna damned problem anyway? You know, they had guards posted all _over _the last city my colony had to fly over. Have you heard if something is going on?"

"Ah, well, I did hear word that a there was a young silverwing that looked at the sun. Perhaps they owls seek revenge, hmm?"

"Oh, that's common knowledge now..." Dawn replied embarrassed – immediately deciding that she would not share the fact that the law-breaker had been one from her own colony, let alone her own brother. "Didn't the owls already exact revenge? I heard something about they burnt down a silverwing summer roost."

"Maybe they thought it was not enough," Goth suggested.

This sounded only too likely. Dawn sighed, and decided to drop the subject. A bigger problem right now was their destination.

"I think we should find somewhere to land," she announced. "I need to think."

Goth must have picked up on the uncertainty in her voice because he immediately reeled around to fly beside her again.

"Think about what, exactly?"

"Ermm, directions?" she grinned uncomfortably. "We're off course and I need to check where we are."

"Do you know where we are going?"

"Yeah, my colony's winter roost," she knew that much, she was just uncertain exactly where it was. "Hibernaculum."

"Hibernaculum?! But that was..." Goth trailed off and suddenly glared at her, then his expression changed and inexplicably he smiled again. "But you still know the direction south, si? If we just continue flying, we'll fly right out of this wretched cold."

"That's a nice idea in theory," _she also thought it sounded downright stupid_. "But where are we supposed to hibernate?"

"We wouldn't need to. Where I am from, it is warm all year round, no need to sleep the coldest part of the year out," and he smiled charmingly. "Perhaps if we cannot find your colony now, then perhaps we can find mine."

"I don't know, your colony sounds awfully far away," Dawn replied uncomfortably.

"Then how about we make another deal. If you help me fly south this winter, you can stay with my colony until the worst of the cold is over."

"That's a big decision to make on the spot," she managed to reply instead of outright telling him **no**.

"This cold calls for hasty decisions, señorita," he told her. "If you do not accept our new deal, then it is likely that neither of us will survive. If we do not find your colony soon, we will both soon freeze."

...

_I've got to be going crazy_, Dawn thought to herself as she continued to fly further south, now without any idea of exactly where she was headed, _this is suicide_! Though perhaps the big bat had a point, it was also very dangerous to stay, what with the risk of starvation and ice.

"The wind is picking up," Goth called out from somewhere above her, the weather nearly tore away the sound of his voice. "I say we roost!"

"No, I might still be able to catch up with my colony!" she called back over the howling gale. "If you want to stay behind, that is fine with me!"

A particularly bad gust of wind knocked her back so that she collided with Goth.

"You are speaking nonsense," he spoke irritably, the cold apparently having sapped away his earlier charm. "Look at you! With your tiny wingspan, you can barely even fly in this weather."

"Are you trying to imply that I'm weak?" she shouted back. "I'm flying just fine."

No sooner had she said this than the wind howled again, and she was blown out of the sky and through the treetops.

Reacting out of instinct, Dawn was only able to just avoid tearing her wings in the branches by angling her wings so that she landed 'oh-so-gracefully' into a pile of snow that had built up in the cranny between two large branches.

And it was beyond freezing.

"Urgh!" she cried out, pushing herself out of the snow, so cold that it felt as if her wings had turned to ice.

Dawn heard laughter.

She had just managed to crawl out of the snow when the branch above her dipped and Goth swung around into view.

"You know, you are very amusing," he told her conversationally. "But perhaps it would be best if you saved your jokes for another time."

"Well, where are we supposed to roost?!" she exclaimed in frustration, now too cold to really care.

"I have already spotted a place," he continued on irritatingly. "If you had listened to me before instead of flying into a snow drift, I would have explained , follow me."

Goth took off into the air, knocking further snow off the tree. Dawn frowned as she was nearly buried beneath snow again, shivering, before she too opened her wings and took off after him.

Dawn quickly found that even high up in trees, there was still a very real possibility of her being blown away, but she was determined not to let herself seem weak and she wordlessly followed after Goth, grumbling and cursing under her breath.

They came to a clearing in the forest. Here there was a number of human structures dotted about the place, old and crumbling, they obviously hadn't been inhabited for some time. Goth still had the lead, flying ahead of her, occasionally looking back to make sure that she hadn't been blown away again. Childishly, Dawn immediately decided to spite him.

She stopped following him, and flew off if a different direction, picking a building of her own liking.

It was a small barn with cracks in its walls. She quickly found her way inside and flew up to the rafters. Dawn's detour hadn't gone unnoticed, Goth was delayed only moments in following her.

Goth roosted on the rafter opposite hers.

"A little cooperation wouldn't go amiss, señorita," he said once he had finished shaking the snow out of his fur.

"The sarcasm could," but Dawn realized she no longer felt as irritable towards the other bat, and was glad for the company after a week of flying by herself. "So what's the plan exactly? We just keep flying south, and eventually you'll find your way back?"

"That's the idea," he told her. "I will know my own way once I stars grow more familiar."

"And it's warmer there? Than here I mean."

"Much warmer," he told her, and something dangerous flashed behind his eyes, though she might have imagined it. "You have _nothing_ to worry about."

"Well, if you say so..."

She could only hope he was telling the truth, her life depended on it.


End file.
